Paignton Totally Explained

Everything about Paignton totally explained

Paignton is a coastal town in Devon in England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the unitary authority of Torbay which was created in 1998. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the English Riviera.
Paignton's population in the United Kingdom Census of 2001 was 47,398.

History

Paignton is mentioned in records dating back to the Domesday Book of 1086 AD. The town's name has also been spelled as Peynton and Paington and is derived from Paega's town, the name of the original Celtic settlement.
   Paignton was a small fishing village until the 19th century, when the Paington (sic) Harbour Act led to the construction of a new harbour in 1837. It was also around this time that the modern spelling of Paignton appeared. The historic part of Paignton is centred around Church Street, Winner Street and Palace Avenue and contains fine examples of Victorian architecture. Kirkham House is a late medieval stone house in the town which is open to the public at certain times of year. The Coverdale Tower is adjacent to Paignton Parish Church and is named after Bishop Miles Coverdale, who published an English translation of the Bible in 1536. Coverdale was Bishop of Exeter between 1551 and 1553 and is said to have lived in the tower during this period, although this is regarded as doubtful by modern historians.
   The railway line to Paignton was built by the Dartmouth and Torbay Railway, and was opened to passengers on 2 August 1859. This gave Torquay and Paignton a link to London. The people of Paignton acquired the nickname of pudden eaters when thousands turned up hoping to obtain a piece of a huge pudding that had been baked to celebrate the arrival of the railway. A Paignton Pudding was baked in 1968 to celebrate the town's charter, and another was baked in 2006 to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Oldway Mansion is a large house and gardens in Paignton that was built in the 1870s for Isaac Merritt Singer, who had amassed a considerable fortune as a result of his improvements to the sewing machine. The building now acts as the local council offices and the meeting place of Torbay Council. Other Singer legacies in Paignton include the Palace Hotel and the Inn On The Green, which were built as homes for Singer's sons Washington and Mortimer respectively.
   As Paignton's population grew, it merged with the coastal villages of Goodrington and Preston. Paignton had its own urban district council until 1968, when the creation of Torbay Council led to a single body covering Torquay, Paignton and Brixham. The unitary authority created in 1998 handles all of the local government for Torbay, and has its own directly elected mayor.

Local economy

Paignton's economy relies extensively on tourism and the town is marketed as a location for family holidays. The main seafront area is dominated by Paignton Pier, a 780-foot long structure opened in 1879. It was designed by George Soudon Bridgman, the local architect who also designed the original Oldway Mansion. The Festival Theatre opened in 1967 and was once a seafront theatre capable of staging large summer shows, but in 1999 it was converted into a multiscreen cinema. Regatta Week during early August is the peak holiday season, and during this period there's a funfair on Paignton Green, along with a large fireworks display. Later in August is Children's Week, which includes a wide range of events and competitions. Paignton has a variety of holiday accommodation, and there are numerous pubs, nightclubs and restaurants in the town. Paignton Zoo, one of the largest zoos in the United Kingdom. The Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway operates steam trains from Paignton to Kingswear, from where a ferry can be taken across the River Dart to Dartmouth. The line was closed by British Rail during the cutbacks of the Beeching era in the 1960s, and is operated today as a heritage railway line.
Paignton is the location of the annual national exhibition for waste management in the United Kingdom. The exhibition has taken place in Paignton every June since the 1970s. The exhibition is the largest of its kind in the world and is staged by the Chartered Institute of Wastes Management. Suttons Seeds, a major supplier of seeds, bulbs and horticultural products, is based in Paignton.

Places of interest

The Torbay Picture House (now closed) is believed to have been Europe's oldest purpose-built cinema and was built in 1907. Seat 2 Row 2 of the circle was the favourite seat of crime novelist Agatha Christie, who lived in neighbouring Torquay. The cinemas and theatres in her books are all said to be based on the Torbay Picture House. It was also used as a location for the 1984 Donald Sutherland film Ordeal by Innocence and the 1981 film The French Lieutenant's Woman (which was filmed mainly at Lyme Regis in Dorset).
The Royal Bijou Theatre is now demolished, but a blue plaque marking its former location can be found next to the Thomas Cook travel agency in Hyde Road. The Royal Bijou Theatre was the venue for the first ever performance of The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan on 30 December 1879. The performance was given at short notice in order to secure the copyright on the work after problems had arisen with unauthorised performances of HMS Pinafore in the USA.
The mathematician Oliver Heaviside lived in what is now Barclays Bank in Palace Avenue from 1889 to 1897, and the building has a blue plaque to commemorate this. He is buried in Paignton Cemetery.

Beaches

Paignton beach and the nearby Preston Sands are used for water sports including kite surfing and dinghy sailing. The reed beds found at Broadsands beach are a haunt of the rare Cirl Bunting. Hollicombe beach features a geological stratotype at its northern end, known as the "Corbyn's Head Member" Elberry Cove is used by jetski enthusiasts, while Saltern Cove is a Site of Special Scientific Interest due to its distinctive geology.

Transport

Paignton railway station is situated close the shops and a short walk from the beach along Torbay Road. Queen's Park Station for the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway is adjacent to the main railway station on the beach side of the level crossing. The bus and coach station faces the main entrance to the railway station.

Use as a film location

Paignton was used as a location in several episodes of the television comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus. In Episode 23, entitled "Scott of the Antarctic", Paignton Pier and seafront can be seen. Episode 18, "Live from the Grill-o-Mat", was hosted by John Cleese from the (fictional) Grill-o-Mat snack bar in Paignton. During the location filming of these scenes in May 1970, the Python team stayed at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay, which subsequently provided John Cleese with the inspiration for Fawlty Towers.
The town has also been used for filming by Spike Milligan, Little and Large and Dick Emery. Oldway Mansion was used as a location for Isadora (1968), a film about the dancer Isadora Duncan.

Further Information

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